Starred Review ALA Booklist (Mon Dec 09 00:00:00 CST 2024)

Starred Review Nine-year-old Roya lives in safety with her parents and older brothers in the Netherlands after fleeing Kabul, Afghanistan, and spending nearly six years in relocation camps. To celebrate their new permanent status, the family adopts a dwarf rabbit (dubbed Mishka), and soon Roya finds herself telling him secrets least, what she can remember the family's exodus and journey. Roya's delayed processing of her trauma comes to a head when Mishka escapes, but with help from her brothers, she arrives at a new understanding of what she and her family have endured. Van de Vendel and Elman's touching narrative (inspired by Elman's own experiences fleeing Afghanistan as a child) gets to the emotional heart of Roya's circumstances, including the frustration that her own memories are sketchy although her fears are not. Smoothly translated, the story includes many lighter moments as well, including Mishka's penchant for peeing as he sleeps on family members with whom he feels safe. Anti-immigrant sentiment is also touched upon, especially with the elderly woman who rescues Mishka; but for the most part this is a story with deftly drawn characters and clearly demonstrated familial love. Schaap's full-page color portraits of various characters with Mishka add elegance to this evocative and memorable presentation.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

An Afghan family, having been recently granted stay in the Netherlands, decides to adopt a petAccompanied by her older brothers, 9-year-old Roya heads to the pet store, where she picks out a white dwarf rabbit, whom she names Mishka. The family finds in Mishka a symbol of permanence and safety. Roya, who was only 3 when the family fled Kabul, confides in the bunny, telling him that they had to leave because her father broke the law by teaching female students and because her parents were both free thinkers. Mishka's presence helps the family cope with their pain and prompts Roya to ask more questions about their arduous journey across continents by plane, train, bus, and foot, through various Dutch refugee centers, schools, and continued denials for citizenship. Deftly weaving in moments of humor, joy, and sadness, the authors offer a gentle, child's-eye view of the dangers the family faced, with underlying implications of trauma. Based on Elman's own experiences and translated from Dutch by Forest-Flier, the narrative makes space for Roya's long-delayed processing of her memories, as well as the anti-immigrant sentiment she encounters and the relief of belonging and home amid deep familial love. Schaap's soft illustrations, set against brown backgrounds, convey warmth and calm; details in both the art and the text indicate that the family is Muslim.Profoundly and charmingly moving.(Fiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews

An Afghan family, having been recently granted stay in the Netherlands, decides to adopt a petAccompanied by her older brothers, 9-year-old Roya heads to the pet store, where she picks out a white dwarf rabbit, whom she names Mishka. The family finds in Mishka a symbol of permanence and safety. Roya, who was only 3 when the family fled Kabul, confides in the bunny, telling him that they had to leave because her father broke the law by teaching female students and because her parents were both free thinkers. Mishka's presence helps the family cope with their pain and prompts Roya to ask more questions about their arduous journey across continents by plane, train, bus, and foot, through various Dutch refugee centers, schools, and continued denials for citizenship. Deftly weaving in moments of humor, joy, and sadness, the authors offer a gentle, child's-eye view of the dangers the family faced, with underlying implications of trauma. Based on Elman's own experiences and translated from Dutch by Forest-Flier, the narrative makes space for Roya's long-delayed processing of her memories, as well as the anti-immigrant sentiment she encounters and the relief of belonging and home amid deep familial love. Schaap's soft illustrations, set against brown backgrounds, convey warmth and calm; details in both the art and the text indicate that the family is Muslim.Profoundly and charmingly moving.(Fiction. 7-10)